Visitor registration is now open for Lab Innovations, the popular UK trade exhibition for the laboratory industry. This year’s show, taking place on November 1 and 2, 2023, at the NEC, Birmingham, is set to be the biggest yet, with the show expanding its floorplan following the success of 2022’s show, which saw the highest attendance rate in the show’s history. Visitors will be able to meet some of the industry’s biggest companies, enjoy free-to-attend talks from industry leaders and network with professionals from across the whole lab industry.
Last year, Lab Innovations hosted 192 exhibitors, including notable companies such as SLS, SciMed, IKA, Shimadzu, Analytix, Getinge, PerkinElmer, Antylia Scientific (formerly Cole-Parmer) and Veolia Water Technologies. With that number set to grow in 2023 following a record rebooking rate from Lab 2022, the event has expanded its floorplan for 2023’s show allowing visitors to meet with more companies than ever before at this year’s show.
In 2022, 4,213 attendees visited, which is a 35% increase on 2021’s attendance and the highest attendance for a show to date - this is expected to grow again for 2023’s show. Last year, visitors were treated to keynote talks by Steven Rannard, professor of chemistry at University of Liverpool, who discussed innovations in nanomedicine, and Alok Jha, science correspondent at The Economist, who focused on the theme of water chemistry. The much-anticipated keynote announcement for Lab Innovations 2023 is due in the near future.
For the first time, the 2023 show will host the Smartlab, an area dedicated to robotics, automation, AI, machine learning and smart lab technologies. This will be accompanied by a content stream running through the conference theatres. The Smartlab will also host a start-up innovation zone, full of brand-new tech from the year’s most exciting start-up companies.
Lab Innovations is home to four free-to-attend theatre programmes: the Royal Society of Chemistry Theatre, the Insights & Innovation Theatre, the Cleanroom Hub and Live Lab. After a successful show in 2022, the Live Lab Theatre, home of live technical demonstrations, has doubled in size for 2023’s event. This means there are more opportunities than ever for visitors to watch live demonstrations of the latest innovations and even try some equipment out for themselves. Brand new for 2023 is the Ask the Experts area, where visitors can get one-to-one advice from the world’s top manufacturers on how to maximise their equipment’s utility.
Sustainability will be a key part of the agenda at Lab Innovations 2023, which will see the return of both The Sustainable Laboratory feature, ran by Andy Evans, director of Green Light Laboratories, and the sustainability trail, which was new to the show in 2022. The sustainability trail gives visitors the chance to join guided tours of the show floor, highlighting the exhibitors that are leading the way on lab sustainability.
